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November 14, 2016

Home on the Range {Ruth Logan Herne}

Nick Stafford stayed in central Washington, working his family s large ranch after his brothers left to pursue other passions but his toughest job is being a single dad. As a child he watched his father fail at marriage and parenting, so Nick was determined to show him up. He’d be a better husband, father, and ranch manager than Sam Stafford ever was. Despite that commitment, three years after Nick s wife left him, he has a daughter in trouble at school and both of his girls are facing issues that force him to rethink his stubborn plans.

For Dr. Elsa Andreas, life fell apart when tragedy caused her to abandon her family therapy practice and retreat to the backwoods of Gray’s Glen. Her school principal sister believes Elsa can guide the Stafford girls and that working with kids will draw Elsa out of her protective bubble.

Summer on the Double S teems with life and adventure. Amid the bounty of God and land, will Nick and Elsa find the courage to build futures based on faith rather than fear?

My Thoughts:

This series. It is not too often a book makes me cry actual tears, but I have cried them with both books in this series so far.

We met Colt, Nick, and Trey in the first book in this series and had the privilege of getting to know Colt. This second book features Nick. Nick is a single father to two girls after his wife left. Years later the oldest daughter, Chayanne is still not doing well with accepting her mother’s abandonment. Both of these girls pulled at my heart strings. I cannot imagine leaving my kids so thinking of these two girls without their mother made me feel so much for them.

Nick is on his last effort and enlists Elsa to meet with the girls and help with several aspects of their life. Elsa is an odd woman, and our first impression of her is completely wacky. However, the more we get to know her, the more we realize Elsa is also suffering from the fallout of a traumatic event in her life. As we learn more about the events surrounding her trauma, we realize she has taken on a huge responsibility that was not really hers to take.

Elsa and Nick’s relationship is swoon-worthy! These two are absolutely perfect for each other, and I just wanted them to get married already. However, of course real-life gets in the way, and these two must overcome personal setbacks as well as ghosts from their past that continue to haunt them.

This book can easily be read as a stand-alone, but you will enjoy it much more if you read the entire series and get the background on many of these characters. Trey’s story will be next, and I cannot wait!

Ruth Logan Herne loves Charlie Brown Christmas trees, rooting for the underdog and people who go the distance while others see the path as too long or broken! She loves God, chocolate, writing, dogs and is blessed by a sprawling family, oodles of grandkids and a sweet old farmhouse in constant need of work. She's sure that clean rooms are over-rated, snakes and possums should mind their own business and buy their own farm and puppies and kittens and babies are about the cutest things on Earth. A "pull-up-your-big-girl-panties-and-move-on" kind of gal, she is blessed to be married to her high school sweetheart (although it wasn't as if THEY WERE KNOCKING DOWN THE DOOR to challenge him for her!!!), work with young families who allow her to exploit their sweet children on blogs, and rock babies on a regular basis. An author for Love Inspired Books and Summerside Press, she lives in upstate New York.